As he campaigned for president, Donald Trump railed against the influx of criminals, illegal drugs and unauthorized migrants across the southern border. But the largest cities on the border have crime rates that are in line with the rest of the nation.

San Diego and El Paso are the two largest cities near the U.S.-Mexico border. Neither is especially crime-ridden, according to figures in the annual FBI Uniform Crime Report.

San Diego recorded 2.6 homicides per 100,000 residents in 2015, and El Paso had 2.5.

The U.S. rate as a whole was 4.9.

The pattern is largely the same for violent crime, which includes murders, rapes, robberies and serious assaults reported to police. El Paso was slightly below the national violent crime rate and San Diego was slightly above. Both cities were well below the national property crime rate, which includes burglary and thefts.

All types of crime have been generally falling nationwide since 2000, and that is also the case for San Diego and El Paso. Compared with 2000, for example, violent crime nationwide in 2015 fell 26 percent. It dropped 30 percent in San Diego and 47 percent in El Paso.

San Diego and El Paso are also generally safer than the nation’s most populous cities. None of the biggest cities had a lower homicide or violent crime rate in 2015 than San Diego and El Paso. Only New York had a lower property crime rate than those cities in 2015.

— Ronald J. Hansen

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Border Patrol agent John P. Lawson, drives along the border fence west of Nogales, where surveillance cameras, radar, ground sensors and other technology has made it harder for people to enter illegally and not get caught. Nick Oza/The Republic

John P. Lawson, operations officer with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said that agents aren't nearly as busy as they once were along the fence. Last year, the Border Patrol made more than 63,000 apprehensions in the Tucson sector of people suspected of crossing illegally into the U.S. In 2005, agents in the Tucson sector made more than that in a single month. Nick Oza/The Republic

Increased border security and an increased chance of prosecution are among the factors cited in the 90 percent decrease of successful illegal crossing of the U.S.'s southern border.. Nick Oza/The Republic

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Border Patrol officers on horseback continue their search for suspected illegal crossers in late September. They caught two men after a six-hour search in a remote area at the U.S. Mexico border near Nogales. Nick Oza/The Republic